Amazon Sword Runners?

This is a discussion on Amazon Sword Runners? within the Beginner Planted Aquarium forums, part of the Beginner Freshwater Aquarium category; -->
Oh good. Should I worry that it isn't a full spectrum? It is more on the reddish pink side....

What's the color temperature? It should be printed on the bulb somewhere, and look like "6500K". Some number followed by K. If not, do you know the name of the bulb from the box? For example Tropic Sun, Ultra Sun, etc.

That's pretty high, I'm not sure exactly what the spectrum on that looks like, but it's probably really high on the blue/purple side.

Plants need both a red and a blue wavelength, don't recall off the top of my head exactly what it is, but ideal range is 5000K to 7000K with the 'daylight' bulbs from hardware stores coming in at 6500K which work quite well and are cheap.

I would replace the tube. I have an Aqua-Glo, it is sitting in the corner of the fish room, having been used for about 5 minutes. Not only does it create a purplish hue which distorts fish and plant colours, but it is about half the intensity of a full spectrum/cool daylight tube of the same length.

If you want a good tube in the same series (Hagen "Glo") the Life-Glo is the best. But it is expensive. Less expensive is the ZooMed Ultra Sun at 6700K. But even less expense is a cool daylight tube with a 6500K (GE, Phillips, Sylvania all make them) that you can get in a hardware-type store for a couple dollars. Any of these will do fine, just make sure the Kelvin is around 6500K [6700K for the expensive ones].

Thanks for all of that info! Next time I'm around a hardware store or LFS, I'll pick up a new bulb. Thanks for all of the help, thank goodness you guys told me instead of my plants! The bulb makes the tank look a little weird anyways. Thanks!

Thanks for all of that info! Next time I'm around a hardware store or LFS, I'll pick up a new bulb. Thanks for all of the help, thank goodness you guys told me instead of my plants! The bulb makes the tank look a little weird anyways. Thanks!

Take the existing tube with you when you go to ensure you get the correct length, or measure the tube end to end (not inclusing the prongs). And make sure it is T8 (assuming you have T8).

Ok, here is a brief update on how the tank is doing right now with the new bulb (the 18,000K aqua-glo that should be replaced soon). A few interesting things going on here. The Amazon sword has started growing like a weed! It's leaves are touching the front and back panes, and are an inch or two away from the top. It used to be a lot smaller. It also has shot out four new leaves in only three days!!! Hopefully this means that some baby swords are in the near future! As for the Dwarf Sag., it's doing good, but not as good. They aren't too exponential, but I can tell that they like this light better than the LED's. But the two aponogetons are a different story. Most of their leaves have turned a lighter green or even yellow. My theory is that they aren't really diggin that high kelvin number. They really shouldn't be in a ten gallon anyways. They don't really look pretty when all of their leaves are bunched up at the top of the tank. The amazon sword should go in a bigger tank too, as I hear they can get up to almost two feet tall...(I guess I should have done some more plant research beforehand). The aponogeton and eventually the sword should be going to the LFS. This 'update' might have been useless, or helpful.

Congatulations on your sucesses with your plants. Exciting! I think if you move the ones that are turning yellow into the shade they will be alright. I have a 10g too, with a Melon Sword that's taking up a good deal of floor space. It sprouted a baby plant too, on the edge of the top.

I'm getting a GH raiser today. I asked the store owner about it and he ordered some. I already stuck a fertilizer plug under the sword. I hope you're thinking about some fertilizer with that unreal growth of your sword. With all of that growth I think you're going to need some! I also finally mastered the timer my light is on and set it back to 10 hours. Byron explained about that in a post. Have you already posted a pic?